REPORT TITLE:
Hawaiian Home leases


DESCRIPTION:
Authorizes transfer of a homestead lessee's interest to a spouse,
child, or grandchild who is at least one-quarter Hawaiian.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        1114
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO THE HAWAIIAN HOMES COMMISSION ACT, 1920, AS
   AMENDED.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Section 208 of the Hawaiian Homes Commission
 
 2 Act, 1920, as amended, is amended to read as follows:
 
 3      "�208.  Conditions of leases.  Each lease made under the
 
 4 authority granted the department by section 207 of this Act, and
 
 5 the tract in respect to which the lease is made, shall be deemed
 
 6 subject to the following conditions, whether or not stipulated in
 
 7 the lease:
 
 8      (1)  The original lessee shall be a native Hawaiian, not
 
 9           less than eighteen years of age.  In case two lessees
 
10           either original or in succession marry, they shall
 
11           choose the lease to be retained, and the remaining
 
12           lease shall be transferred, quitclaimed, or canceled in
 
13           accordance with the provisions of succeeding sections.
 
14      (2)  The lessee shall pay a rental of $1 a year for the
 
15           tract and the lease shall be for a term of ninety-nine
 
16           years; except that the department may extend the term
 
17           of any lease, provided that the approval of any
 
18           extension shall be subject to the condition that the
 
19           aggregate of the initial ninety-nine year term and any
 

 
Page 2                                                     1114
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           extension granted shall not be for more than one
 
 2           hundred ninety-nine years.
 
 3      (3)  The lessee may be required to occupy and commence to
 
 4           use or cultivate the tract as the [person's]lessee's
 
 5           home or farm or occupy and commence to use the tract
 
 6           for aquaculture purposes, as the case may be, within
 
 7           one year after the commencement of the term of the
 
 8           lease.
 
 9      (4)  The lessee [shall] thereafter, for at least such part
 
10           of each year as the department shall prescribe by
 
11           rules, [so] shall occupy and use or cultivate the tract
 
12           on the [person's] lessee's own behalf.
 
13      (5)  The lessee shall not in any manner transfer to, or
 
14           otherwise hold for the benefit of, any other person or
 
15           group of persons or organizations of any kind, except a
 
16           native Hawaiian or Hawaiians, and then only upon the
 
17           approval of the department, or agree so to transfer, or
 
18           otherwise hold, the [person's] lessee's interest in the
 
19           tract[.]; except that the lessee, with the approval of
 
20           the department, also may transfer the lessee's interest
 
21           in the tract to the following qualified relatives of
 
22           the lessee who are at least one-quarter Hawaiian:
 
23           husband, wife, child, or grandchild.  Such interest
 

 
Page 3                                                     1114
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           shall not, except in pursuance of such a transfer to or
 
 2           holding for or agreement with a native Hawaiian or
 
 3           Hawaiians or qualified relative who is at least one-
 
 4           quarter Hawaiian approved of by the department[,] or
 
 5           for any indebtedness due the department or for taxes[,]
 
 6           or for any other indebtedness the payment of which has
 
 7           been assured by the department, including loans from
 
 8           other agencies where such loans have been approved by
 
 9           the department, be subject to attachment, levy, or sale
 
10           upon court process.  The lessee shall not sublet the
 
11           [person's] lessee's interest in the tract or
 
12           improvements thereon; provided that a lessee may be
 
13           permitted, with the approval of the department, to rent
 
14           to a native Hawaiian or Hawaiians, lodging either
 
15           within the lessee's existing home or in a separate
 
16           residential dwelling unit constructed on the premises.
 
17      (6)  Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (5), the
 
18           lessee, with the consent and approval of the
 
19           commission, may mortgage or pledge the lessee's
 
20           interest in the tract or improvements thereon to a
 
21           recognized lending institution authorized to do
 
22           business as a lending institution in either the State
 
23           or elsewhere in the United States; provided the loan
 

 
Page 4                                                     1114
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           secured by a mortgage on the lessee's leasehold
 
 2           interest is insured or guaranteed by the Federal
 
 3           Housing Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs,
 
 4           or any other federal agency and their respective
 
 5           successors and assigns, which are authorized to insure
 
 6           or guarantee such loans, or any acceptable private
 
 7           mortgage insurance as approved by the commission.  The
 
 8           mortgagee's interest in any such mortgage shall be
 
 9           freely assignable.  Such mortgages, to be effective,
 
10           must be consented to and approved by the commission and
 
11           recorded with the department.
 
12                Further, notwithstanding the authorized purposes
 
13           of loan limitations imposed under section 214 of this
 
14           Act and the authorized loan amount limitations imposed
 
15           under section 215 of this Act, loans made by lending
 
16           institutions as provided in this paragraph, insured or
 
17           guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration,
 
18           Department of Veterans Affairs, or any other federal
 
19           agency and their respective successors and assigns, may
 
20           be for such purposes and in such amounts, not to exceed
 
21           the maximum insurable limits, together with such
 
22           assistance payments and other fees, as established
 
23           under section 421 of the Housing and Urban Rural
 

 
Page 5                                                     1114
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           Recovery Act of 1983 which amended Title II of the
 
 2           National Housing Act of 1934 by adding section 247, and
 
 3           its implementing regulations, to permit the Secretary
 
 4           of Housing and Urban Development to insure loans
 
 5           secured by a mortgage executed by the homestead lessee
 
 6           covering a homestead lease issued under section 207(a)
 
 7           of this Act and upon which there is located a one to
 
 8           four family single family residence.
 
 9      (7)  The lessee shall pay all taxes assessed upon the tract
 
10           and improvements thereon.  The department may pay such
 
11           taxes and have a lien therefor as provided by section
 
12           216 of this Act.
 
13      (8)  The lessee shall perform such other conditions, not in
 
14           conflict with any provision of this Act, as the
 
15           department may stipulate in the lease; provided that an
 
16           original lessee shall be exempt from all taxes for the
 
17           first seven years after commencement of the term of the
 
18           lease."
 
19      SECTION 2.  The provisions of the amendments made by this
 
20 Act to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended, are
 
21 declared to be severable, and if any section, sentence, clause,
 
22 or phrase, or the application thereof to any person or
 
23 circumstance, is held ineffective because there is a requirement
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 of having the consent of the United States to take effect, then
 
 2 that portion only shall take effect upon the granting of consent
 
 3 by the United States and the effectiveness of the remainder of
 
 4 these amendments or the application thereof shall not be
 
 5 affected.
 
 6      SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
 7 New statutory material is underscored.
 
 8      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
 9 
 
10